The Tale of my Shrinking

Fifteen

  I stood up from the jar, placing my hand on the cold glass. Aiden looked at me then back to the lady who put me in the jar, "Matilda you're dismissed for today." Soon enough Aiden took the lid off the jar and reached down gently grabbing me. "I'm so sorry Alina, I completely forgot that the cleaners come today." I nodded my head, "It's fine Aiden it was just an accident." Aiden was still gently holding me in his hands, and now I felt somewhat safer in his presence. "Did she hurt you?" It seemed like Aiden was more worried than I was. "No Aiden like I said it was an accident, honestly, I don't blame her if I saw a shrunken criminal I would of done the same thing." Aiden set me down on the counter, "Would you really Alina? Do you even care that even though they're criminals there still people?" I thought about the question he asked me, and then I remembered when I was seven.

  I had just turned five and I had just gotten all green stickers at the end of the month, that means I was good for the whole month at school. No one in the whole kindergarten had gotten all greens and my teacher wanted me to take it home to show my parents and sign off on the chart. I remember going home so excited to show my parents; I was so proud. When I arrived in the old beat up apartment we lived in, I walked in and only saw my father passed out from what I realized now was alcohol. I ran to my father shrieking "Daddy wake up I need to show you something!" He didn't wake up right away, but I kept shaking him and when he finally opened his eyes, he glared at me. "What the hell you little brat." I was used to my father and mother speaking to me in this sort of matter, "Daddy look how good I did this month, I was the only one who got all green." Suddenly the paper was snatched from my hand, he grabbed the paper and tore it right from my arms. I could feel the tears slipping from my eyes, "I don't know why the hell you can't be like your brother and leave me alone!" He yelled, right then the phones ringtone starting playing, dad was too drunk by then to walk right to the phone to answer it so I ran and grabbed it and gave it to him. "Goddamit! Natalia where the hell do you suppose I get the bail money for fifty thousand, I'll figure it out." And with that, my father stumbled out the door like the drunk he was, and I never saw him again; well except on the television.

      This was just one memory I had, it wasn't just my parents. My brother was a murderer and my other extended family were also criminals. Before I left my brother, my grandmother stopped by she begged for money to get out of a drug deal gone wrong saying how she was in danger. All the money I earned from tutoring I gave to her, all the money I had I gave it to her. I later found out she just needed more money to buy drugs to sell to other people. I guess my memories made me bitter; bitter about how I was raised and about what has happened to my family. I still cared I know my mother was still in jail from when I was five for that robbery, the same with my dad, he robbed a gas station trying to get my mom out. The shrink program was designed for people who committed crimes that either ended in the death penalty or life imprisonment. No one was sentenced to the shrink ray by being completely being innocent.

  "Do you even care that even though they're criminals there still people?" I thought about the question Aiden was asking and waiting for an answer. I'm not a bad person, I care about people, that's what made me want to go to college so I could do research on cellular development and find a cure for cancer. Sure, when I developed the shrink ray by complete accident sure, Mr. Madden was happy it would make his company more well known for research, but since the government approved the shrink ray to be used on prisoners it made Mr. Madden and his company more well known and gave him more money.

  Back to the question Aiden had asked me "Do you even care that even though they're criminals there still people?" I looked at Aiden coming back from my thoughts, we both made eye contact at each other. "Of course I care." I truly did mean it, I never wanted any ill coming from any of my research or my invention. Aiden just nodded his head, it was like he didn't care or didn't believe it. " I do care, I really do; but you have to understand I didn't invent this machine to affect innocent people." Aiden looked like he didn't believe me. "When I invented this machine me and your father had a discussion on how to use it, and believe me we both debated on how we should use the machine for the good; it's not like your father makes millions just off this machine to hurt the innocent." At the moment it seemed like Aiden was glaring at me, "You don't understand do you Alina." Just like that Aiden left me alone just like usual, but I could tell by his looks that he was disappointed, but it's not like he didn't understand or wanted to understand why I believed the way I did about the use of the shrink way.